Letters to the editor for Oct. 13, 2012

Saturday

Oct 13, 2012 at 12:01 AM

We have turned the other cheek to disrespectful and rude children, and allow them to continue with their inappropriate behaviors.

Modern society fails children

At what point did we decide that the right way to raise our kids was to completely enable them? When did we decide that our kids shouldn't take responsibility and shouldn't be held accountable for their actions? When did kids determine that hard work and perseverance is not the pathway to success? We are raising a generation of kids who feel entitled and that we "owe" them. We have done these kids no favors and such a disservice in allowing them to continue with this destructive mentality. We have given them everything and expected very little in return. There appears to be very few consequences for the selfish behaviors that these kids engage in. We have turned the other cheek to disrespectful and rude children, and allow them to continue with their inappropriate behaviors. With few exceptions, kids rarely say please or thank you. They no longer hold doors open and are inconsiderate, disrespectful, and rude to adults. Manners no longer exist. Morals and values have declined. Parents accept and tolerate these unfortunate deficiencies. I have witnessed teenagers push their way through a group of adults without so much of an "excuse me" or "I'm sorry." Parents tend to be in the "protection" mode and will do nearly anything to assure their child's success, often to the detriment of their children. This includes doing their homework or making excuses for them. We have coddled our kids and reinforced their skewed views. We, as parents, do not communicate very well with our children. We are so disengaged and have distanced ourselves from our children. Our children are guilty as well. They may have one, two or 3,000 Facebook friends, but only one or two real friends that they are able to talk to. Where did we go wrong?

LAMAR SPRADLEY

Ormond Beach

As a retired fire chief of South Daytona, I spent 31 years working for the city. I worked my way up through the ranks and can attest that this city is well-managed and fiscally prudent. During the 2004 hurricane season, FPL did not consider our city a priority in restoring power, leaving some residents without electricity for up to four weeks, while it restored power to nearby cities. But while we waited for FPL, we did just what I expected from a "can do" city — firefighters, police officers, council member and other staff immediately jumped into action, delivering water, ice, mosquito repellant and other aid to our residents. The fire department did wellbeing checks on the elderly residents, and the public works department quickly cleared the debris and opened our streets. Neighbors helped neighbors. South Daytona is small enough to be flexible and responsive, and not so big as to be bogged down in bureaucracy. We do it well. We get things done. There is no reason to believe the city would do anything but a stellar job in running the electrical utility with the assistance of ENCO, the same company that manages Winter Park's system. We all need to recognize that our current economic system demands a new way of thinking by both residents and city officials. We need to seize opportunities that will increase our revenues without raising taxes. I urge residents to support a citizen-owned utility by voting for it Nov. 6. Keep our city great by keeping our money here, where it belongs.

JAMES E. QUINN

South Daytona

Recently a writer to The News-Journal complained about the new smart meters being installed by Florida Power & Light Co. She thinks that we are being charged exorbitant extra fees by FPL as a plot to increase their profits. My meter was installed and, so far, our charges have gone down. (Yes, down!) After our meter was installed, we were approached and give a brochure citing all the problems of the new "smart" meters. At first glance the brochure seemed professional enough, but on closer examination it proved to be anonymous, with no scientific proof in it. It said our meter was radioactive and would cause headaches and insomnia. In addition, burglars standing in the streets with a Yagi antenna would be able to monitor my house and tell if I was home. Terrorists would be able to track the signal and shut down the electrical grid. The best one was that FPL would be pulling information from my house and turning it over to the FBI. The only one that concerned me was the radiation aspect. I obtained radiation detection equipment and installed it next to my meter for 10 days, and, lo and behold, no radiation was detected. I called customer service at FPL and was directed to FPL headquarters. What a pleasure to talk to intelligent, educated people. They countered every statement in the brochure. One statement made an impact: "This is the same meter we are installing in our own homes and those of family and friends." Oh, by the way — FPL said that if I was still uneasy about the meter, it would give me the old one back. Do your homework! Don't stand on the street corner shouting that the sky is falling!

FRED GRUNER

Daytona Beach

There are a lot of things that are wrong with the Republican Party that truly get under my skin, but the one thing that still bewilders me is their inability to go along with the facts. For example, before the political debate all of the polls indicated Barack Obama was winning the race — and the Republican Party widely came out disputing their authenticity and called them inaccurate. Then after the debate, when Mitt Romney did better in the same polls, all we hear are crickets. Dare they say they are accurate now that they are in favor of their candidate? Then take unemployment. When it was nationally at or above 8 percent, it was a Republican selling point how Obama isn't creating enough jobs for this number to go any lower. Now that unemployment has slightly dropped, to 7.8 percent nationally, the Republicans are calling it inaccurate and are still claiming we are headed in the wrong direction, instead of celebrating a drop in unemployment — which both parties should do. Republicans can only celebrate or believe numbers that favor their candidate; this is unfair to sell to the American people. What they can't seem to sell is the fact that Mitt Romney's plan is too good to be true. We've been down this road before: According to Romney's campaign, everyone gets to pay less taxes and we still get to spend money on the things we want and yet still have yet to hear of a single significant expense he would eliminate, or a way to pay for it all. I'm sorry, but I'm not willing to bet my taxes on his too-good-to-be-true policy. They are selling garbage and I'm not buying. I hope you don't either.